Apple Planning 3G Laptops?

At last! A rumour about Apple products that has an air of legitimacy to it! Thanks to a now-suspiciously-removed posting for a “Communications QA Engineer” on its website, rumour is rife that Apple is planning to offer a range of MacBooks with integrated 3G modems.

The job requirements included “in-depth knowledge of one or more Comms technologies, including Gigabit Ethernet for consumer and enterprise-class workstations, Bluetooth v2.0, 3G Wireless WAN, and Wi-Fi (802.11) a/b/g/n” working within the “Comms Software QA team within the Mac Hardware Group.”

There are several reasons this doesn’t mean Apple is going to launch a 3G capable MacBook range. Not least of these is the fact that Apple is the ambiguity of the job listing itself – working with 3G isn’t listed as a definitely; requirement. Or perhaps Apple wants an in-house technician able to diagnose problems third party manufacturers have had with USB dongles and PCMCIA cards.

Nonetheless, of all the Apple-centric rumours which have circulated lately this is by far my favourite. I don’t particularly want an Apple tablet PC or netbook but a 13.3in MacBook with built-in 3G would be pretty tempting.